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The Chinese Get a Hummer... I Mean to Say... They Bought a Hummer. No, They Bought Hummer
When the HMMWV emerged out of the Gulf War, it struck a chord with America’s fascination with size and power. Pretty soon, everyone (yes, even Arnold and Sly) had to have one. Big? Yes. Ridiculous? Yeah. But when gas was $1.35 a gallon, it made sense. And it sold well. Very well. Until gas was no longer $1.35 a gallon. Let alone $2.50 a gallon.
Chinese heavy equipment maker Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. signed the much hoped-for deal today. Tengzhong will get an 80% stake in Hummer, while a Hong Kong investor Suolang Duoji, will get the remaining 20%. Both investors will get the brand, and the nationwide dealership network, which at one time, aside from Cadillac, was the only GM franchise worth a damn.
Official sale numbers have not yet been disclosed, but it’s whispered to have brought GM $150,000,000. During GM’s bankruptcy filings this summer, GM had hoped Hummer could bring over $500,000,000.
The current Hummer management team will remain, or until they quit, like a number of GM and Chrysler brand CEOs just have… The headquarters will remain in the Michigan vicinity.
James Taylor, the division’s CEO was quoted as saying "We are fortunate to have a partner who understands and recognizes the importance of continuing investment in Hummer's heritage as a U.S.-based and branded company with a view toward capitalizing on global opportunities…” What global opportunities that wait, I’m sure the automotive press will have a field day with.
Hummer’s smallest model, the H3, gets a combined city/highway EPA of around 16 miles per gallon. China, perhaps the world’s largest expanding automotive market since America 60 years ago, I doubt has any need or use for an SUV that gets such horrid mileage, but the Chinese, who love Buicks of all American cars best, hope to change all this.
Now backed by a solvent parent, Hummer will focus on fuel efficiency, alternative fuels, and fitting in on a global scale.
The Shreveport Louisiana plant will continue to build Hummers on a contract basis till June 2012. A plant once employing some 3,000 workers but has been reduced to just over 700.
The original company that spawned the Hummer, AM General, has nothing to do with the Hummer brand sale.
It will be interesting to see in time, who's getting a good deal and who's just getting blown... Or a Hummer, if you will...
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I remember when IBM sold their chronically unprofitable PC division to Lenovo (I think it was Lenovo, right?) with a kick out the door and a "good riddance," only to see Lenovo immediately turn it around.
And it wasn't simply because they could build it cheaper because IBM had been outsourcing the production for years. The magic came from actually attempting to sell the public what they really wanted (rather than what IBM felt they wanted, a trick Apple learned decades ago) that turned it around.
Can't wait to see how the Chinese deliver their next sales lesson to we Americans via the Hummer. School starts......now.
Actually, Apple has thrived on an "outsider" fringe status. Its by being the "anti-microsoft/ibm" that has enabled them to get where they are. It has less to do with the products tahtn the branding of being apart from the herd if you buy an apple product.
The CEo of Lenovo started out by scratching together chips and circuit boards and selling homade computers door to door, building a business from absolutely nothing into a profitable venture. The CEO of IBM had an MBA, knew all the right people, belonged to the right country club and didn't know a great deal about computers.
Who would you back ?
Lenovo CEO
I just can't freaking believe that only one post here understands why the chinese bought Hummer.
Have we all become tards? Or just me?
I think it was the platform they were after. Think of a country with over a billion piss poor people yearning to be free/fed... vast majority in rural locations where roads are how do we say? oh yes... spotty to non-existant.
What kind of vehicle could one use to move troops out quickly to put down any potential local insurrections and look good doing it?
Hmmmmm..... Hummmmmer.
I understand there is some urgency to remove all manufacturing infrastucture from the US, the GM bailout was just the taxpayers paying for the move.
Get rid of those jobs!
Hummer was originally developed/used for military purposes in Gulf War I, long before it became a status symbol in the U.S. Military buildup was the first thing that went through my mind when I heard Hummer was being sold to China (at an enormous "discount"). You're the first person I've heard mention the same thought. Glad to see someone else recognize the significance.
There was a post below that got it.
Great minds think alike... however fools seldom differ... sometimes I wonder about myself... at least I'm not alone.
The Hummers you see on the streets aren't on military chassis. The vast bulk of them are on stock GMC truck chassis.
It's my understanding they also get the H1 platform.
never been in one. how's the ride?
Hummer is nothing more than a cock enlargement pill on 4 wheels.
Cheeky - not sure about any other hummer owners but I got mine for safety. (2006 SUT).got it because I witnessed an F350 t-bone a minivan.. And then got to hold the minivan drivers hand as he died. Sorry man, with a wife and four kids.. The carnage of that wreck sold me.. That minivan vaporized into nothing. also FYI - the thing is a joy to drive.. They are well made.
(Ex- p.o.s. Dodge Calibre owner)
thats a reasonable purchase; what is not a reasonable purchase of a vehicle is when you buy it just to show of your new rims, bling and bitches, and feel important. I hope you can differentiate between the two.
Why not? What do you care what anyone does with their money?
One is just as reasonable as the other.
What is not reasonable is being a self-righteous jerk in order to feel important (..and yes, I appreciate the irony here), so quit it.
Thx. Ps - what's also cool about the humvee purchase is that you can get a used one loaded for $35k.. And a brand new one is $85k. Buy when others are despondently selling and all that stuff.
Agree with johnking tho - most owners are douches. But then again so are 'most'.bmw owners (no offence to those owners here) :)
couldn't this really just be boiled down to - people are douches?
The Hummer is also a great export item. The Russians bought them by the bushel, and they are also popular in the gulf states. I would bet that the proportion of Hummers exported was one of GM's highest.
You must have one of the very few wife (w/kids) driven Hummer, The typical hummer-driver-douche I see is steroid muscled, hair-gelled, slightly shorter than average jerk. It's kinda like "hey you are already a pathetic stereotype, why bother with the Hummer?"
also fake tan..must have fake tan.
So you are all for a centralized economy that makes value judgements about what constitutes a good purchase over whatever an individual wants to?
Personally, I'm for the Elliot Spitzer stimulus plan - prostitutes and coke.
+1, You beat me to it.
+1, You beat me to it. Also had a thought centered around the selling of military technology to a foreign power.
What's wrong with a "four wheeled cock enlargement tool" CB? They come in all varieties - and I love 'em. Seems to me that you have knack for the four wheeled variety too. BTW - here in California we refer to the Hummer as the "Bummer".
No, no knack here; i think the Humvee is the best military car by far; but they are practically useless on the road. My friend had a Hummer couple of years ago and we where driving towards Aberdeen trough some small villages; and it was downright scary when a truck was heading our direction; there was simply no room for both of us to pass. In a urban environment is useless, unless, you, like Cheese have a need to protect yourself from any serious injuries when colliding with a tank. Also; F1 car is the safes place to be if you are in a accident.
no comment right now.
Ha ha ha, this is like if McD's sold the Big Mac to China!
gmac may cost taxpayers a bundle
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200910081617dowjonesdjonline000611&title=gmac-key-for-auto-industry-may-cost-us-taxpayers-a-bundle
GM getting anything over zero is a result. The brand is useless.
The Hummer was a symbol of everything wrong with America. Good riddance. Unfortunately, now that it's gone, it won't save us.
I am Chumbawamba.
Lemme guess... China paid for the Hummer by transferring T-Notes from the China account to the GM account?
Now that the Chinese own it, by January 2010 it will be getting 55 mpg and it will seat a small village.
GM got 50% more than what the whole thing was worth.
The world has gone mad.
50% of $150M. $75M is a little less that the Tech company I was a technology officer around 2000 burned in VC. Now, that's what I can Stark Raving Mad... just lunacy. Nothing was produced at all from that ridiculous lottery ticket.
Travis, that's a headline Hummer... I mean to Say... That headline's a Hummer... No, I mean, a Hummer of a headline... I mean, you can't improve on that!
Chinese may have the military application on their mind.
Congratulations ... you are the lone voice of reason...
China ??? You mean "Red China" ? That China ?
Formerly a threat to invade Orange County and steal the barbecues ?
Ok, this explains a little why when I walked past the TV, Maria asked if I would buy a hummer. Instincts dictated not to make eye contact and walk a little farther to the side.
Try researching the company that bought Hummer. It seems to have materialized out of nothing.
Schwarzenegger piece of shit. Maybe some trademark value?
Interesting numbers. GM hoped for 500MM but got just 150MM. Reminds me of the one about 2 Japanese fellows headed from Chiasso, Italy into Switzerland, oh, about June 4 this year, only to be stopped by Italian authorities.
A search of their bags immediately turned up (in secret compartments) $134,500MM in U.S. bearer bonds, which U.S. Treasury claimed--6 days later--were fake, consisting mostly of $500MM bonds, with a few $1B bonds tossed in.
GM really wanted get 1 of those seized small bonds in return for Hummer, but settled for much less.
told my sister Obama got the piece price, she replied...which State he sold now?
"During GM’s bankruptcy filings this summer, GM had hoped Hummer could bring over $500,000,000."
Yeah, and I'm still hoping for that 4 hour erection. How realistic were either of these wishes?
given enough blow and cheap whores, i would say they are highly realistic ..
LOL.
It takes a Cheeky to point out the obvious. Why didn't I think of cheap whores and a truck load of blow? And here I thought I needed a silly little pill.
no man; pills are bad mkay; go natural; Spitzer style ....
..nice vehicle. All good things come to an end!
:vo hehe
Most popular brands? Hummer sales are one ten thousandth of one percent of all vehicle sales in the US. Even at its peak. The brand is essentially worthless as a money-making endeavor.
So the Chi-coms got the hummer for $150 mil? Didn't we give GM like $150 Billion in taxpayer keep alive dough before admiting it was a failure.
Coming soon to a Wal-Mart near you
China likes to spend those U. S. Dollars! Smoove!
Next time I will meet a Hummer owner, I'll ask him "How is your chinese car? Is it a good car, are you happy with it?"
Funny how only 2 years ago, Hummer was the "proof" of the U.S. superiority. (Could not be more American than buying a Hummer. Maybe a Harley? What would Jesus buy and so on...).
And now it is a chinese brand. That must make a bunch off owners frustrated. :) In the next few months, it should be pretty easy to buy cheap used hummers.
I wonder if we will be able to use it for Cash For Clunkers 2.
Cash for hummers?
A lot of BS Hummer hate from "Annon's". Like wannabees who drive BMw's or little Merc's are somehow not pricks? Give me a break. Too much anti-establishment liberal anti-US-knee jerks posting on this. Drive what your heart says to drive. Hummers are great vehicles and they hold their value better than about anything that GM has on the market.
I was looking at buying one until our dear leader took control of GM. Now that a Chinese company bought them, I'm looking again. I refuse to look at any GM or Chrysler product again since they are now owned by the Government.
You won't buy from a company that is overseen by the US Government, but one run by the Chinese government is okay? What kind of communist are you?
Hummer this.
..mine lasted.. 24 hrs+.. on +off, of course, as needed.
:v]| hehe
Your Hummer or your "hummer"?